Intermittent-grip device.



N. H. ANDERSON. INTERMITTENT GRIP DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 23. 1915.

1,242, 1 1 9. Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WIT M58855 INVENTOR N. H. ANDERSON.

INTERMITTENT GRIP DEVICE. APPLICATION FlLED-APR.23. I915.

191?. 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Patented Oct. 9,

WITNESSES l/Vl/E/VTOR W k i of the drawings.

s'rns an FM NILS H. ANDERSON, OF EAST HAMPTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGN'OR TO THE NOISELESS TYPEWRITER COMPANY, OF MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION Q13 CONNECTICUT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

INTERMITTENT-GRIP DEVICE.

. Patente Oct-9,1917.

1915. Seria1N0-23,317. 2

chines,'and especially to the spring drum and associated parts provided for driving the carriage and actuating the ribbon mechanism.

This application is a division of my parallel pending application, Serial No. 557,925, filed April 27, 1910.

The objects of the present invention are to provide simple and efficient mechanism of theabove character which will be cheap to manufacture; but its further and especial object is to provide means for driving the ribbon which will be substantially silent in its action and have free and easy movement.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown one of many possible embodiments of my invention,' e 2 Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section and broken away, of aportion of a typewriting machine sufficient to'illustrate one embodiment thereof; I

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in section,

'taken substantially on the line a2-m, Fig,1;

' clutch niembers.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views While the present invention is herein illustrated and described with reference to that form of typewriter known as the noiseless typewriting machine, it is to be understood, however, that the entire mechanism, as well as certain individual features thereof, may be applied to other forms of machines as well.

.end of this spring,

Referring to these drawings in-detail, 1 represents one of the side plates of a'type- Serial No. 557,925. Divided. and. this application fileo. April 23,

writing machine, between and from which is supported a horizontalbar or beam 2 which in turn supports a U-shaped bearing member 3 resting thereon between upwardly projecting flanges 4 and secured thereto by means of anut or screw "5,

adapted to support the main drivenshaft 6 carrying a driving drum 7. One end of this shaft 6 is provided with a beveled gear'8 meshing witha secondbeveled gear 9 on a transverse shaft 9 which, through suitable "gears 10, drives ribbon spool spindles 10 at opposite sides of the machine (only one being herein shown), which are operatively connected at their upper ends with the ribbon spools for feeding the ribbon past the printing point, in a well known manner. One or more of these gears, 10 for example, is preferably stamped from sheet metal, thereby materially decreasing the cost of manufacture of these parts.

The ribbon driving drum 7 is provided at one point on its periphery with an upwardly extending lug 11, Fig. 3, preferably being an upwardly punched integral part thereof, to which one end of a tape 12 is secured, the

opposite end being connected 'to a pin or stud 13 on a carriage frame 14, which is adapted to reciprocate on a shift rail 15.

Punchedinwardly from the inner periphery of the spring drum is another lug 16 similar to the lug11 to which one end of a spiral spring 17 is secured. The opposite after making a plurality of convolutions in the usual manner about the interior of the drum, is secured to a relatively stationary hub 18 about the driven shaft 6. For the sake of elearness the body portion of the spring 17 has been omitted from the drawings, merely the end portions thereof being shown in Figs. 2 and 3. This drum 7 comprises a cup-shaped sheet metal container having a cover plate 19 to which parts are secured, respectively, bearing plates 20 and 21. Screws 22, engaging tapped-out studs 23 located at a plurality of points about the interior of the drum, hold the cover in place. The bearing plate 20 is loosely mounted upon the driven shaft 6 and abuts one end of the hub 18, which is hollowed out to substantially its entire length to form a bearing for the end of the it in adjusted position.

driven shaft 6. The greater portion of the bearing for this shaft in the hub is slightly enlarged, thereby lessening the friction when .one OfIthGSQ, parts is turned relatively to the other, the extreme end of the recess only being of proper size to form a closefitting bearing, as shown by the dotted lines in .Fig. 2. -The bearing plate 20 and'driven shaft 6 normally rotatein the same direction when the carriage'is moving in. ale'tterspacing direction. The bearing plate 21, however, .rotatesrelatively to the stationary hub l8, which it surrounds, and in order to avoid friction between the plate 21 and the hub, ,ball'bearings 24 are interposed to reduce the friction as much as possible when the carriage is moving from right to left.

When the carriage is 'being returned to'the beglnningof a line the drum 7 turns rela- --tively to the shaft 6,: but as this motion is manual, more or less friction is immaterial,

the object of the construction beingfto provide Ln easy running carriage when moving for letter spacing.

The tension of the spring 17 within the drum may be decreased by ,means of the ratchet mechanism, shown in Fig. 4; the hub 18 is provided with a flattened or irregular portion 25, on which is mounted a ratchet wheel 26 turning therewith. Depending from the U-shaped bearing support 3 is an arm 27 having pivotally mounted thereon an escapement or double armed pawl 28, one

arm of which is always adaptedftoengage the ratchet teeth of :the wheel 26' toprevent the same from rotating more than onespace at a time under the action of the tensioned spring 17 VVhenoscillated by :afhandle29 one arm of the escapement 28 and then the other thereof alternately engages with .the ratchet wheel, 26 to permit the spring to unwind, step by step. 0n the other hand,

shouldit be desired.to-increase the tension of-thespring, a screw drivervis inserted in a-JslotBO at the-end of thehub 18 at the rear of the machine and turned to rotate thejhub in a clockwise direction, thearms oiffthe pawl 28 slipping over the teeth and holding the same against reverse movement.

A threaded bushing 31 is adjustably .mountedili one end of.the supporting mem- 'ber-3, which engages the shoulders adjacent the "flattened portion 25 of the hub 18 for the purpose of taking up'the end-thrust of theentiremechani'sm; the set screw 32' holds The spring drum 7 is operatively .con-

{heated with the driving shaft 6 by means of a plurality of friction clutch members 33 pivotally mounted at 34 on the drum 7. These clutch members are in the form of bell cranklevers, the ends 35 o'f which are curved eccentrically, and coact with the sleeve 36 rigidly secured to the driven shaft 6 by means of aset'screw Theopposite the carriage moves from right to'le'ft.

{bers 33 from clutched engagement with the the hub 18, which unwind step by step, while {if it should be 120 the hub rotated to the ends 38 of the clutch members are engaged by a spring 39 normally tending to urge them outward andforce the ends 35. i-nto frictional contact with. the sleeve '36. It is thus seen that as the drum .rotatesgto; letter space the carriage, these clutch members will be moved into engagement with the sleeve 36, thereby to rotate the driven 'shaft6 and feed the ribbon in the .proper direction as In order to prevent the ribbon from being fed in a reverse direction when the carriage is returned to the beginning of a line, and to aid in removing-the clutchmem- 8O sleeve-36, thereis provided a clutch member 40 pivoted at 41-011 the bearing supportj'B, and provided with a curved eccentric/face engaging the sleeve 36. About the {pivot pin 41 is wound a spring 42, one end engaging the clutchmember 40 and the otherthe bearing member 3, tending normally to urge the clutch member into operative relation with the sleeve 36 onthe driven shaft. This clutch member 40, by the contact of its curved face withthe sleeve 36, prevents the rotation of the shaft 6, when the carriage is returned to a line-commencing position. The operation of-this device is as follows: The carriage '14 is fed .in a letter spacing direction along the shiftrail 15 (see Fig.4) by means of the spring 17 withinthe drum 7. As the drum rotates tojfeed the carriage the clutch members '33 grip thesleeve 36,

dle "and feed the ribbon. "As soon, however,

as the carriage reaches'the end of theline and the operator, starts to return the same to normal position, the clutch member .40 will coac't with the sleeve sew .g'rip,.and H hold, the same against a backward rotation,

permitting the clutch members @831'tobe forced out of engagement with the opposite end of the sleeve 36. In this inannerfthe 11 carriage returnsto normal .position and rewinds the spring within :the ,drnm,,whereupon the device fisready torepeat the..opera tion. 'Shouldit be desired to regulate the tension of the spring the handle29 of fthe escapement pawl ,may be oscillated, allowing the arms 28 alternately to slip out of engagement, with the ratchet 526,, carried on permits theispring. t0

desired to increase theltension ,of the spring a screw driver is inserted in the islet 30 and desired amount, as above described. 7

I Itris'thus seen 'thatthis.construction pro- 'vides for a simple and practical device adapted to I operate substantially silently, thereby avoiding thedisagreeable clicking heretofore a familiar sound whenmoving the carriage. The various parts of.-,the

' tionally clutch mechanism are so arranged and proportioned as to rotate or move in the same d1- reetion when operating, or are provided with means whereby the friction between the normally eoacting parts is greatly relieved when rotating relatively to each other. By forming parts of this mechanism from sheet metal a strong and efficient but cheap device is obtained. It is thus seen that this invention accomplishes, among others, all of the objects and advantages herein set forth.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In mechanism of the character described, in combination, a bearing member, a driving shaft supported thereby, a spring driving drum coaxially supported on said shaft, a spring pressed pawl pivoted on said drum and adapted to frictionally clutch said shaft upon rotation of said driving drum in one direction, and a spring pressed pawl pivoted on said member and adapted to fricsaid shaft upon rotation of said driving drum in the other direction.

2. In mechanism of the character described, in combination, a substantially U- shaped bearing member, a driving shaft supported by said member adjacent its open end, a spring driving drum eoaxially supported on said shaft and partially disposed 7 within the opening of said member, means carried by said drum to frictionally clutch Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the said shaft on rotation of said drum in one direction, and means carried by said member to frictionally clutch said shaft on rotation of said drum in the other direction.

3. In mechanism of the character described, in combination, a substantially U- shaped bearing member, a driven shaft supported by said member adjacent the open end thereof, a spring driving drum coaxially supported on said shaft and partially disposed within the opening of said member, a spacing sleeve fixed on said shaft intermediate said drum and one bearing of said shafton said member, and clutching means to insure rotation of said shaft upon rotation of said drum in one direction and to permit rest of said shaft upon rotation of said drum in the other direction.

4. In mechanism of the character described, in combination, a driven shaft, a driving drum loosely mounted on said shaft, a sleeve about said shaft, a plurality of pivotally mounted members coacting with said sleeve to form a silent clutch for driving the shaft when the drum rotates in one direction, and spring means normally tending to force said clutch members into operative relation with said sleeve.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

NILS H. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

C. M. NEWMAN, H. C. PERRY.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. '0. 

